Cabinet Secretary Flip Flops –It’s Time For Some Plain Truth On Car Recall
Does U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood understand the power of his words?
This was horrible.
At first, LaHood suggested that some Toyota drivers should stop driving their cars. Then, he backtracked. These are his words:
“What I meant to say or what I thought I said was, if you own one of these cars or if you’re in doubt, take it to the dealer and they’re going to fix it.”
Do we know more from news reports than Secretary LaHood knows? Is this the Katrina of car safety recalls?
It gets kind of sticky (speaking of gas pedals) when the man responsible for our safety shoots his mouth off without thinking. It gets a little scary when our top transportation official may have exaggerated or downplayed the problem. My suggestion – just lay out the facts as quickly as possible to allow people to make the appropriate decisions.
The important thing is that Toyota drivers get the truth, before someone gets hurt, or before a major brand name is hurt even more by mixed or missed information.
IRAN CAVES, FOR NOW
This is interesting. On Sunday the U.S. revealed that anti-missile defenses have been rapidly deployed to the Middle East to protect our allies from any potential Iranian attack. Two days later, the hard line government said it would agree to Western demands that its uranium stockpile be enriched in other countries. The Iranians also hinted at a possible deal to free three lost American hikers. So, Iran caves in at the mere mention of force. Can we rely on that nation’s promises? Absolutely not! But I find an interesting connection between the two developments.
Comments(36)
Wow! A new post already. Larry I’m impressed. You actually felt the urge to comment on the Secretary of Transportation’s obvious gaffe. I guess that Prius of yours isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. Sure you’re helping aid the greening of the world but at what price? You should have bought American.
Larry,I feel those cars should be recalled & somehow it should be enforced.
Iran did not cave,it’s merely stalling for time.Look back over just recent history & you’ll see it’s a tactic used repeatedly by the N.Koreans & one employed by the Vietnamese as well.
Obama again giving a speech today. Am I to assume that this guy gets paid by the word? Enough already Obama!!!! Go back into your bunker and quit saying the same thing over and over. I’m not buying your bullshit. Even Specter made more sense than Obama did. Specter wanted to know how to deal with all the job losses to China. Obama said simply that we are going to do nothing. Obama wants the people to give politics some sort of vacation. Obama wants the people to watch American Idol and leave all the work to him and his cohorts.
Larry, my entire family was raised on Toyotas as I’m sure you and your family, but I bet you have a lexus too, which also has problem, just not disclosed yet. The American companies are not perfect but they dont lie and cover up the way Japanese do. They tried to pretend this was a floor mat problem until they couldnt, then pedal, but truth is probably electronics. The top managers were either afraid to tell the boss or they all knew and covered up. Obama is so afraid to insult foreign governemnts he’s not willing to call them out. This is an historic bungle and for a change American comapies will benefit. My dad won’t let us drive the toyotas any more. We rented two Chevy Malibus from Avis, and low and behold they are way better than Camry and Avalon! Americans were just snobs not to consider American cars, they were like you, complain about jobs and Auto bailout then drive Japanese cars and teach your children to buy foreign. Thank God we still have American cars and companies that care about our safety and are held accontable.
God bless GM, Ford, and Chrysler! I want to set my Toyota on fire, and I hear thats happening all over the country because residual values are now close to nothing. Ebay data shows you cant give them away this week, if you sell to someone they can name you in the suit now if they are injured or killed because the seller knows about problem. what a mess!
Jay Leno is putting chocolate on bacon and pizza and crickets. And for this he’s worth over $100 million to NBC? I think he has jumped the shark and will fail when he goes back to 11:30. The 10pm slot exposed that the emporor has no cloths. At least the show is sponsored by Ford, the highest quality automobile in the world! I think Larry is dead on about Lahood being the Brownie of Obama administration.
However, why doesn’t Larry call out Emanuel for calling liberal democrats “retarded”? Obmama mocked the special Olympics, and now this! I thought liberals were politcally correct and annointed to tell us what words we can use. Apparently Negro and retarded are very popular words in liberal circles. Do as they say, not as they do. And we are supposed to trust them on health care? Will Negros and retarded people get a fair shake in the health bill?
What about gays in the military Larry? Since you are weighing in more often on current events, please tell us if this is good policy? The WSJ had a vey good analysis about it. The rules should just be left as is, ask colin powell, the utlimate Negro authority on this matter. He says no, and to equate it with civil rights is offensive to all people of color. What does Larry Kane think about this issue? As a Veteran he might have special insight on this matter. If it were my blog i would have written about Emanuel and gays in military today. But its not my blog, so I appreciate being able to tell the other five people who read it what Jasper Johns thinks.
Larry, may be you should comment on Iran instead of this nonsense…
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100201_defensive_buildup_gulf
The truth before someone gets hurt will not
happen Larry.
Hundreds have been hurt and several
killed by sudden accelation in Toyotas
It took four people dying in a swamp on Dec 26th for
Toyota to finally face up to problem, and
we still don’t know full truth or magnitude
of danger.
Waiting for the 7:01. I’m amused by the musings here. By the by Larry thank you for changing topics. You are no longer doing the drive by news on the TV. You don’t have to confine each topic to 100 words. You can actually put some thought into your topics and expand your comments. We may be A.D.D. but we will take the time to read through whatever you write. Regardless of how biased or foolish.
First of all Beau you know we’ve never owned anything but a Lincoln Town Car. Even when they were a piece of shit we had to keep up our image by buying American. I would not be caught dead in a Camry or Accord. Your argument that Toyota is somehow different than other auto manufacturers in how they have handled this matter is specious. No auto manufacturer is going to expose themselves to millions or billions in lawsuits unless they are caught redhanded. Look at Ford with the Pinto. How long did the sanctimonious Ford management wait before pulling the Pinto off the road? And they were blowing up! The defect on the Toyotas is subtle and apparently hard to detect. The Pinto had a $11 repair that caused 37 deaths. Ford fought a recall. It was not until the Govt forced them to do a recall. Let’s not confuse the facts Beau. Like Larry never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Let’s hope the Patriot Missile works better now than they did 17 years ago. It was almost comical watching CNN report on how many Patriot missiles were fired and how many hits/misses during the Gulf War. I’m sure Israel and Kuwait didn’t find it too funny.
I see the apple does not fall far from the tree. Beau rambles on with the best of them. That is my political expedient son!
Finally I’m surprised Larry did not comment on the “survey” of Republicans that make them sound like ignorant racists. He really is trying to hold back his bias these days. Kudos to Larry for trying. This is his third blog change without a shot at Sarah Palin. It must be killing him.
Impeachment in 2010! Can’t we recall that clunker Barack?
Sent Via Blackberry by Verizon
I’m really concered for all of those smug
Liberals who drive the Toyota Prius, no
brakes! Liberals are terrible drivers in
safe cars. They must be outraged that they
might die in order to reduce their carbon
footprint, or perhaps its for the greater
good of our country that they sacrifce their
lives for a greener planet, God knows Prius
drivers are to risking their lives in military
service.
Liberal Prius drivers – don’t ask, don’t tell!
Hey Jack Russell, NBC use to have Must See
TV, right? Now they have Donkey Zone TV! All
week on the Today Show, Donkey Zone every day.
But seriously, Michelle is doing much better
than expected, she is not an Amerosa type,
actually very respectful and a great role
model for mothers and wives. Get into the
Donkey Zone on Donkey Zone TV on NBC!
Spandex has cut off circulation to Jack Russell’s brain – details at 11.
This site should be referred to as the Donkey Zone for so many reasons…
Predictions:
- consumers begin setting
Toyota cars on fire to collect insurance.
-A senior Toyota executive commits Hari-
Kari due to shame of Corporate cover-up.
-Larry Kane gets American cars after his
Toyota Motors Leases expire.
Wow, another blog change and without a Palin or GOP reference. Amazing!
JJ, thanks for sharing. Riveting insights.
LA, I have Larry pegged as Lexus guy as well. Probably gets a sweetheart deal at Wilkie in Haverford.
Can we impeach the VP?
Bloomin onions, mate. Sir Larry of Laughalot has changed the freekin blog.
I hear Lexus is coming out with their version of the Prius, mate. They will call it the BS-69. A scaled down, luxury version of the RS250, mate. Defective gas pedal is included on the BS-69 at no extra charge. Cheerio.
This site is really dead.
Good point about Ford and pinto, but they learned
from that. American cars are safe at any speed
thanks to Larry’s good freind Ralph Nader, who
weighed in on Toyota today. Doest Herb Dennenburg
remind you of Ralph’s cranky uncle? Is Herb
Dead?
The Toyota fiasco should be a bonanza for US automakers. I wonder if GM and Chrysler will benefit or just Ford.
Remember the Pinto!
BTW, today is Obama’s half birthday.
I’m surprised the press is not commemerating.
Afteraall that is a big
accomplishment, right Larry? Michelle
is going to give him a half birthday treat,
Only six months until his full year birthday,
His second in white house, getting chills just
thinking about its significance.
Buy blue state cars. Forget the rice rockets from the red states. Ford quality has surpassed Toyota. Toyota can’t deal with the burden of being the biggest. It had to take Japanese governmental assistance. Ford is the only major automaker that wasn’t bailed out.
Larry I often wonder why people bother to comment here in Larry’s World. Is it your fascinating commentary? No. Is it the fact that you are a local celebrity. Maybe. Is it because your rants are so inane and beyond most ordinary peoples’ concerns. Well I’d have to go with that one. Toyota will recover and those three intruders into Iran, who cares. As for Iran being a threat to US soil. forget about it. They might be a threat to our allies but I’m not sure who are allies are any longer.
The difference between you and me Larry is that I care about this country and you care about your car.
My writing is way over-rated. I went into seculsion because I knew Catcher in the Wry was not that great, but the more relcusive I became the more acclaim I received. That’s how art and writing works, get a bunch of in the know people to rave about you, go into hiding, put out rumors that your addicted to something and troubled. place a rumor that you stopped wiping your ass for a year and you had feces in your bed sores and everyone wants to read your book. Holden Caufield was not that intersting, except to bearded liberal English professors with homosexual tendencies.
I slept in this morning. Not going into DC today. I don’t want to get stuck in the snow storm. We are expecting a 12-24″ blizzard like many of you in the Delaware Valley. Jill made the obligatory trip to Wegmans to stock up on supplies for the weekend. TGIF but I fear my weekend schedule will be disrupted. I have a question: how does the VP of the US work from home?
Did you see me yucking it up with Scott Brown and his wife at the swearing in ceremony. We all despise this guy and everything he stands for. I’m just doing my job. I have a history of screwing these swearing in ceremonies up. Barack was privately hoping I’d screw up Brown’s swearing in so he could not vote on healthcare. Transparency and bipartisan.
Scott Brown’s wife Gail was pretty hot. A little bit too rolly polly for my tastes. Perhaps a bit more BOTOX than I’d like to see but hot nonetheless. I hear she is a newscaster in Boston. The Huffington Post is running a bikini video she did back in 1984 suggesting she’s a tramp. That’s the way I like’m. That’s the way I like’m. Uh-huh Uh-huh.
Imagine the nerve of that guy dissing both Barack and his own party during his post swearing in ceremony. Barack will crush him like a gnat. What a tool.
Well good luck with the blizzard. Most of you will be out shovelling or snowblowing this time tomorrow. Lord Abott and Larry like have people that do that sort of thing for them. Can you imagine Larry out snowblowing? Red and black plaid wool cap with visor and earflaps. Parka down to his knees that make him look like an oversized Michelin man. Bright green wading boots that make him look like Kermit the frog underneath the outfit. Don’t forget the ski goggles he picked up at Mount Snow 25 years ago on the family ski week. Mrs Larry would be so proud. Her Man tackling the elements. Wrestling with nature. Grabbing the bull by the horns. But of course she would just be imaging this. Larry will be in his den going through his rolodex when the plows arrive at the Kane Complex. Larry does not do snow. Not since Mount Snow in 1985 and that was primarily in the rope tow area and lodge.
Bundle up and buckle up for the blizzard!
Impeachment in 2010! Can we get ‘ur done today?
Sent Via Blackberry by Verizon
Looks like Obama fiscal policies are driving
us toward a double dip, he’s got to get
discipline about spending and private sector
job creation- its jobs stupid! Thank God for
Downtown Scotty Brown, hopefully 41 can stop
the madness in Congress!
Impeachment can stop the madness.
I can see Larry shoveling snow in his monogrammed housecoat with matching ascot.
In DC the snow storm is being referred to as
SNOWMAGEDDEN!
Up to 30 inches expected. Does
everyone have enough bread and milk?
The middle aged and elderly white men
who post here are at risk of heatattack
be carful shoveling! Luckily I have a plow
service.
I couldn’t stand the weather.
Obama apperently read my post this morning.
After the jobs report he tore a page from
the Reagan playbook and announced that jobs
need to be created in private sector by small
Entraprenerial businesses. Duhhh, as someone
who has actually created jobs and wealth for
more than just myself I can say with certainty
that’s the only way to do it. Goverment jobs
are a short term solution and ballon the
deficit and in addition hurt productivity
because Government jobs are essentailly union
Jobs, and they over compensate and under deliver
productivity in the economy. At least Obama
is learning. Now he needs to drop rest of
socialist agenda and he might be succesful!
It sounds like the big one is coming. Hold on Elizabeth I’m coming to join ya! The brine is down and the salt trucks are on alert. Even our president didn’t use his Limo when making another speech today. he managed to get to another ho hum (I feel your pain) appearance in his SUV. Ah the “green” president driving around in his SUV. Where was his Prius? This putz talks a good game but when it comes down to it he is not what he wants us to believe.
30″ of snow is expected in the capital. I guess this whole climate change thing is real. Oh I know some of you out there think that this is just an aberration but didn’t they get hit just last December with a major snowfall? Personally, I would rather have Global Warming than Climate Change.